SOLAR-powered cameras will monitor remote river systems and hundreds of flood gauges will warn of rapidly rising rivers as Queensland arms itself for the 2012 wet season.
The early warning systems backed by hi-tech communication devices are being rolled out to improve public safety and reduce loss of life in the event of a repeat of the 2011 floods.
Local Government Minister David Crisafulli will today announce $500,000 in funding to help regional councils across Queensland meet the vital safety upgrades recommended by the flood inquiry.
Councils had been demanding more state funding to complete crucial work and had warned that flood-weary communities might not be ready for another summer of heavy rain. New measures to be rolled out include solar-powered cameras with week-long back-up batteries.
As the State Government yesterday extended the life of the Queensland Reconstruction Authority to continue the recovery process, Mr Crisafulli said the practical measures would decentralise control from Brisbane and allow locals to take the lead.
"We wanted to see an end to the one-size-fits-all, George Street approach to handling the wet season," Mr Crisafulli said.
Solar-powered cameras will be installed along isolated river systems in the far north Carpentaria Shire and rely on satellites to relay images of flooding roads to a council website available to the public.
Further south, Hinchinbrook Shire Council will receive more than $50,000 to improve digital communication, including outdoor message boards, while the Burdekin will receive more than $10,000 for a new flood-monitoring system.
Bundaberg will receive $57,000 to assist in the installation of five river-height warning stations on the Burnett River, while at Moreton Bay Regional more than $26,000 will go towards six two-way radio base stations, 30 two-way hand-held radios and five laptops.
Mr Crisafulli said the cameras would be crucial in helping the far northern Carpentaria Council warn residents and travellers of rising floodwaters that impact on other settlements further down the rivers days later.
"In the past the council has been hampered by a lack of reliable information Normanton and Karumba are regularly isolated for long periods each year," he said.
Local Government Association of Queensland spokesman Greg Hallam said progress in flood mitigation since the inquiry's interim report in August 2011 had been extraordinary.
Mr Hallam said a mood approaching hysteria was in the air in the lead-up to the 2011 wet season. But councils had now established a firm grip on a new, 21st century approach to floods and cyclones.
"There has been tens of millions of dollars spent on new technologies mainly concentration on monitoring systems and the communications tools that run off the back of those monitoring systems," he said.
"Councils are grateful for the money coming from the state and federal governments but the fact is a lot of this money is being spent by councils themselves they are doing it off their own bat."
Mr Hallam said a single high-tech river gauge secured in concrete or stone on a river bed and recording not merely river height but temperature, flow rates and turbidity could cost more than $30,000.
More than $5 billion has so far been spent across the state on reconstruction, 75 per cent of it drawn from federal coffers and 25 per cent from state.
Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney yesterday announced the Government would extend the role of the QRA to June 2014.
However, he criticised the pace of the recovery, saying the Government would demand that the QRA deliver within established time frames.
"All of the QRA's resources, personnel and activities must be focused on its core business of completing the task of rebuilding affected communities," Mr Seeney said.
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27.9.12
